With the new Power over Ethernet (PoE) standard under discussion (IEEE802.3bt), delivering power savings in applications like this...as well as lighting...are front and center in the technical debate. Texas Instruments is discussing this in greater detail on their Power Management blog, www.ti.com/powerhouse.

I unplug my computers and chargers if I go away for a few days. Same for wireless router, Ethernet switch, and office IP phone. I have to get on my hands and knees to reach some of the plugs. How many people would do that?

Yes, if you leave your power supply/charger plugged into the wall, you'll heat the room.

>> The IoT has the potential to help in this regard by turning off the lights in unoccupied rooms and advanced circuit designs can help by eliminating any current consumption by chargers that are adding no value.

All right, we may need sensors to feed back data that the rooms are unoccupied. For those sensors to work, we may burn marginal power compared to having the lights on in perpetuity. I agree on the better circuit architecture point.

@goafrit I fully appreciate the productivity provided by our connectivity. However, the power wasted by idle chargers when the device is disconnected provides no value to anyone (except the electric company). We need to eliminate all power consumption that isn't delivering value. The IoT has the potential to help in this regard by turning off the lights in unoccupied rooms and advanced circuit designs can help by eliminating any current consumption by chargers that are adding no value.

>> This is good. If all the devices in the house were this responsible, I'd be saving a lot of standby power.

While redesigning chargers could save us some dollars, the most sustainable will be making systems so that static power is reduced. I am still surpised that after fully charging my phone, even without using it, it drains to zero within weeks. But in the days of feature phone, you are sure the phone will last for months provided it is not powerred up. So, we need to get back to the fundamentals of static power management so that we do not have to be charging often

Yes, that is a lot of power. I run three tablets at home for the family. These things add up. When you have all of them with laptops and then add fridge, we can see how power adds up. Yet, I do not think it is wasted when you consider the productivity this connectivity brings. Yes , I just came up with a good tagline, Productivity via Connectivity (tm).

One immediate opportunity to reduce standby power consumption would be for chargers to sense current draw and turn off if no device is plugged in. Many people unplug their computer, phone, or tablet from the charger when they take the device but leave the charger plugged into the outlet (especially if the outlet is under their desk or otherwise inconvenient to access). Likewise, USB charger outlets which are being added to wall outlets should be designed not to use when power when nothing is cnnected to them.

I've tried to measure the current taken by my iPhone charger when the phone is disconnected and the current is too small to measure with my Kill-A-Watt power monitor. This is good. If all the devices in the house were this responsible, I'd be saving a lot of standby power.